News & Notes
Volume 13, No. 1
Welcome!
It is with tremendous pride and privilege that we welcome you to L’école élémentaire Beachy Cove Elementary School for the 2017-2018 school year.
While we are finalizing our enrolment numbers for this year, it is safe to say that our population of learners is hovering around the 550 mark, a sharp decline from last year where we peaked at about 775 learners. This drop is due to the opening of the new school for 5-9 learners in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s while we now serve the educational needs of learners from K-4.
This drop in enrolment means that our cafeteria has now been restored which is exciting news for us as we have grappled with shrinking space each year for the past twelve years. We have also returned our learning commons (library) to its former glory and we are excited about our ability to establish an art/science multipurpose room.
We are thrilled to be working and learning with you and your family this year and we look forward to a positive and productive working relationship for the educational benefit of your child(ren).
Cafeteria Service
Cafeteria service begins tomorrow, Thursday, September 7, 2017. Our cafeteria operator, Chartwells, will be supplying paper copies of the menu today and it will also be posted to our website (www.beachycove.ca) this week.
Ordering can be done online (schoollunchorder.ca) or you can write your order on a slip of paper and enclose it along with the correct change in an envelope. These envelopes are then dropped into a box in your child’s classroom and collected by cafeteria staff first thing each morning.
Administrative Team
For your information, please note that the principal at Beachy Cove is Aubrey Dawe. You can reach Mr. Dawe by telephone at 895-2241/-2242 or by e-mail (principal@beachycove.ca). Our assistant principal for the foreseeable future is Roxanne Penney. Mrs. Penney can also be reached by telephone or by e-mail (roxannepenney@nlesd.ca).
Allergies
We have many learners with life threatening allergies to peanuts and tree nuts. Consequently, peanuts, tree nuts, and products containing them, including peanut butter, are banned schoolwide.
You should also be aware that soy butter products which have been formulated to have the same consistency and taste as peanut butter is also banned. This is to avoid any potential for confusion and mistakes in consumption by our learners with allergies.
Another of our young learners has a life-threatening allergy to sesame seeds; however, while we don’t have a ban on sesame seeds and products containing them, we strongly encourage our families to bear this in mind when shopping for and packing lunches and snacks for school.
Courtesy Seats/Stops
School district policy gives us until October 1, 2017 to have our applications processed for courtesy seats; however, we fully understand the situation that some families are in with respect to after-school child care, transportation complications, and work commitments. To that end, we will double down on our efforts to have this process concluded as quickly as possible. We would like to have all applications on file by Friday, September 8, 2017.
Please remember that policy dictates that we give priority to applicants from kindergarten first, then grade one, and so on.
Our school, and many of our teachers, have active Twitter accounts. We use this to communicate short bursts of timely information. Our main school account (@beachycoveelem) has 2014 followers which means that this system works well.
If you don’t have an account, I encourage you to get one and follow us so that you can stay informed.
E-mail addresses for our staff can be found under the “Staff” tab on our website (www.beachycove.ca). You are free to use this method to communicate with us; however, please be mindful that classroom and specialist teachers rarely get an opportunity throughout the day to check and reply to e-mail as they have teaching responsibilities. Replies will typically be done prior to the start of class or after school.
In the interest of a good work-life balance, we encourage our teachers to stay away from e-mails at home during the evening. That is not to say that you won’t get a reply in the evening, but there is no expectation that that our staff engage in e-mail replies from home.
Social Media
As a matter of professional courtesy and respect, we kindly ask that you refrain from “venting” on social media about our staff and school. Instead, we encourage respectful dialogue and conversation around issues of concern to you. As a matter of practice, we encourage you to take your concerns to the teacher first; if you are not satisfied with the response or the solutions offered, you may then take them to the administrative team here at the school
School Hours
Our school doors are unlocked at 8:10am each day which is also the time that teacher supervision begins. Classes start at 8:30am sharp each day (see note below about late arrivals) and we break for recess at 10:00am. Classes resume after recess at 10:15am and we break for lunch at 11:45am. Lunch concludes at 12:40pm when our afternoon session begins. Our school day concludes at 2:40am.
Late Students
As a school community, we need to do a better job at arriving at school on time each day.
Please remember that when a learner arrives late, it causes unnecessary anxiety in those who are late as all eyes are on them as classes that are already in session are interrupted and all eyes are on the late learner. Being late also causes the teacher to stop his/her instruction and repeat instructions/teaching to the detriment to those who arrived on time and are already engaged in learning.
Yes, there are work commitments and yes, there are traffic delays; however, knowing about all of these detractors in the morning should cause us to become a little better organized and leave home a little earlier than normal.
And, think of the important life lesson that is imparted when efforts are made to arrive consistently on time. Being prompt and on-time is a valuable life skill that will serve your child(ren) well in the future.
Lockers
The vast majority of our lockers have been removed from the school. In their place, shelves and coat hooks will be installed this week to keep student backpacks and jackets organized. This is a much cleaner alternative to the dilapidated lockers that we had been using up until June past.
To avoid lost mittens/hats, please encourage your child(ren) to place them in their sleeves or hood when they hang up their coats.
Curriculum Night
The first formal opportunity for you to meet your child(ren)’s teacher is Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 7:00pm at our annual curriculum night presentations. This hour-long session is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to put faces to names and to get our partnership off to a great start. We look forward to seeing you then.
Birthday Party Invitations
If you are inviting your child’s classmates to a birthday party, we require that you invite all boys, all girls, or the whole class. Invitations that fall outside of this scope will be returned. It is also important to remember that we do not distribute birthday party reminder notices.
Recycling Blitzes
We accept recyclable beverage containers at our recycling shed every Tuesday morning during morning arrival. Thank you so much for your anticipated support and cooperation.
Flyer Distribution
We have become inundated over recent years with groups and organizations looking to the school as an easy means to distribute flyers and other information, to the point where teachers were spending a tremendous amount of instructional time passing out flyers and leaflets. Consequently, we have been forced to develop some guidelines before this gets out of control even further.
- If you would like flyers distributed, they must be bundled in groups of 27 and there must be 27 separate bundles;
- Flyers must reflect activities for K-4 learners;
- Flyers that reflect commercial for-profit activities will not be accepted; and,
- All flyer distribution will be at the discretion of the teacher; they will judge their time and schedules and decide accordingly. Because we have a ready audience does not mean that we should be using valuable instructional time to distribute flyers and notices from outside agencies.
Parking Lot
Our school parking lot is an incredibly busy place; however, we pause from time to time to consider some safety policies.
If you are dropping off your children, please drive through the “Kiss n’ Ride” lane where you will be met by volunteers to assist with unloading. Under no circumstance should children be dropped off in the lower half of the parking lot.
The rear of our school is closed completely to all vehicular traffic with the exception of our school busses.
If you are interested in volunteering with us on our parking lot from 8:10am-8:30am each morning, please let us know as soon as possible.
Upcoming Events
Please note the following dates for various events scheduled for this year. We reserve the right to change these dates with advance notice to you.
Professional Development Day (no school) – Friday, October 6, 2017;
Thanksgiving Holiday – Monday, October 9, 2017
District close-out (no school) – Wednesday, October 18, 2017;
Remembrance Day Assembly (grade four) – Thursday, November 9, 2017;
Remembrance Day Holiday (no school) – Friday, November 10, 2017;
Remembrance Day Holiday (no school) – Monday, November 13, 2017 (yes, both days);
Term I Progress Reports Released – Monday, November 27, 2017;
Term I Parent-Teacher Interviews – Thursday, November 30, 2017 (closing at 11:ooam);
Grade 3/4 Christmas Concert – Thursday, December 7, 2017 at 1:00pm;
School Closes for Christmas – Friday, December 22, 2017 at 12:30pm;
School Re-Opens following Christmas Break – Monday, January 8, 2018 at 8:30am;
KinderStart Parent Orientation – Tuesday, January 10, 2018 at 3:30pm;
Grade Four Immunizations – Thursday/Friday, January 11-12, 2018;
KinderStart # 1 (no school for K) – Friday, January 26, 2018;
Mid-Winter Break (no school) – Friday, February 16, 2018;
Mid-Winter Break (no school) – Monday, February 19, 2018 (yes, both days);
Education Week – February 18-24, 2018;
Skating Sessions (details to follow) – February 20-23, 2018;
KinderStart # 2 (no school for K) – Friday, February 23, 2018;
Term II Progress Reports Released – Monday, March 19, 2018;
Term II Parent-Teacher Interviews – Thursday, March 22, 2018 (closing at 11:00am);
KinderStart # 3 (no school for K) – Friday, March 23, 2018;
School Closes for Easter Vacation – Thursday, March 29, 2018 at 2:40pm;
School Re-Opens following Easter Break – Monday, April 9, 2018 at 8:30am;
Earth Day Assembly (grade three) – Friday, April 20, 2018 at 1:30pm;
KinderStart # 4 (no school for K) – Friday, April 27, 2018;
Art Day (details to follow) – Friday, April 27, 2018;
Spring Concert for grades 1/2 – Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at 1:00pm;
Kindergarten Spring Concert – Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 1:00pm;
Victoria Day (no school) – Monday, May 21, 2018;
KinderStart # 5 (no school for K) – Friday, May 25, 2018;
School Leaving Ceremony for Grade Four – Friday, June 1, 2018 at 1:00pm;
K-2 Sports Day – Tuesday, June 19, 2018;
3-4 Sports Day – Thursday, June 21, 2018;
Alternate Day for K-2 Sports Day – Friday, June 22, 2018
Alternate Day for 3-4 Sports Day – Monday, June 25, 2018;
School Closes for the Year – Thursday, June 28, 2018 at 12:30pm.
A respectful community of leaders and learners.
Une communauté de modèles et d’apprenants qui se respectent.